# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/joseph-henry
# Generated: 2026-09-02T06:05:38.343Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/joseph-henry"
name: "Joseph Henry"
slug: "joseph-henry"
description: "The SI unit stamped on every inductor — the henry — belongs to the physicist who made electromagnets work and invented the relay that let telegraphs talk across continents, then spent three decades running the Smithsonian instead of chasing more credit."
tagline: "American scientist and the 1st Secretary of the Smithsonian (1797-1878)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/1870s_Joseph_Henry_(1797-1878)_American_physicist%2C_inventor_and_first_secretary_of_the_Smithsonian_Institution_(cropped).jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1797-12-17"
deathDate: "1878-05-13"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           56.02
  momentum:             0
  historical:           22.81556266666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Scientists"
    slug: "scientists"
  - name: "Scientist"
    slug: "scientist"
  - name: "Physics"
    slug: "physics"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
    slug: "americas"
  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q157043"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Joseph%20Henry"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cozef_Henri"
    title: "Cozef Henri"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be_x_old.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%B7%D1%8D%D1%84_%D0%93%D1%8D%D0%BD%D1%80%D1%8B"
    title: "Джозэф Гэнры"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%84_%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%80%D1%8B"
    title: "Джозеф Генры"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%84_%D0%A5%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%80%D0%B8"
    title: "Джоузеф Хенри"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%9C%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%AB_%E0%A6%B9%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BF"
    title: "জোসেফ হেনরি"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A4%CE%B6%CF%8C%CE%B6%CE%B5%CF%86_%CE%A7%CE%AD%CE%BD%CF%81%CE%B9"
    title: "Τζόζεφ Χένρι"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%81_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%DB%8C"
    title: "جوزف هنری"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%92'%D7%95%D7%96%D7%A3_%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%A8%D7%99"
    title: "ג'וזף הנרי"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ht.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Joseph Henry"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%81_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%8A"
    title: "جوزيف هنري"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%DA%86%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D9%81_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%89"
    title: "چوزيف هنرى"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Joseph Henry was born December 17, 1797, and built his name winding electromagnets in the 1820s and early '30s. While doing that work he discovered self-inductance, the property that makes a coil resist changes in its own current, and independently found mutual inductance around the same time Faraday did — though Faraday published first. Henry turned the electromagnet from curiosity into tool, invented a bell that rang at a distance via electric wire in 1831, and in 1835 built the electric relay, the switch that made long-distance telegraphy possible for Morse and Wheatstone. In 1846 he became the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and held the post until his death on May 13, 1878, also serving as president of the National Academy of Sciences for the last decade of his life.